IndexArticles
10th Mar 2009
During 1970, American scientist Dr. Oscar Auerbach trained 36 Beagles to inhale cigarette smoke in his relentless pursuit of proving that smoking causes lung cancer, seeking to boost the fledgling anti-smoking movement with his findings.
The animals were harnessed in an open box and after gradual conditioning, began to show signs of addiction, wagging their tails and excitably jumping into their smoking boxes. Five were to die before the 14 month experiment had run its course. The remaining dogs suffered massive lung and tissue damage. These victims of scientific testing were sacrificed in the name of discovering what we now accept as fact: that smoking kills. It no longer takes an exercise in animal cruelty, however, to establish another fatal truth: that your second-hand smoke may be harming your pet.
A study carried out by vets in the United States has comprehensively linked passive smoking to cancer in cats. The study, conducted at Tufts University in Massachusetts, found that adjusting for age and other factors, cats exposed to second-hand smoke were twice as likely to develop feline lymphoma. If the animals were exposed to passive smoking for five years or more that risk tripled.
In addition, studies have also placed dogs living in a smoking household as increasingly susceptible to cancers of the nose and sinus area, particularly if they are a long-nosed breed, because their noses have a greater surface area that is exposed to carcinogens and a greater area for them to accumulate.
Dr Kevin Cruickshank from Gold Coast Vet Surgery acknowledged the ‘significant risk factor’ involved in the inhalation of second-hand smoke by household pets, and not just in terms of increasing the animals’ likelihood of developing cancer.
“Another thing in terms of the effect of second-hand smoke which is not necessarily cancer related, is smoking related skin allergies in pets,” he said.
“In other words, the animal becomes allergic to tobacco smoke”.
While Dr Rowan Kilmartin of Animal Options Veterinary Clinic stated that there were only very few studies which comprehensively verified the link between heavy smokers and cancer in their pets, he agreed that there existed evidence that passive smoking could cause health problems in household pets.
He also named cigarette smoke as one of the key pollutants or allergens in the environment responsible for an increase in allergy related skin disorders in canines.
“Considering the numerous situations where smoking has been banned by law to minimise passive smoking by the public, it is reasonable to consider that the same passive smoking by pets will also contribute to health problems,” he said.
“If people must smoke they should consider the health of their pets if they are nearby”.
It is strongly recommended to not smoke in proximity to household animals, in addition to avoiding exhaling directly towards your pet, in order to minimise the risks associated with the inhalation of second-hand smoke by dogs and cats.
“Another tip would be to avoid smoking in the car while your animal is riding in it to visit the vet, even though this may be a stressful time,” Dr Cruickshank added.
“If you are harming your pet as well as yourself, this could be an added motivation to quit smoking for your own health as well as theirs”.
While it remains to be seen if passive smoking can be comprehensively linked to instances of cancer in dogs and cats, there is no doubt that cancer amongst household pets is on the rise, particularly amongst canines.
According to Robert McDowell, a purveyor of herbal medical treatments Australia wide, this may be attributed to the subverting of our animals’ environment with our own modern stressors – boredom, snack food, overeating, poor exercise patterns and over-medication.
He argues that while horses still eat grass, dogs are denied the opportunity to scavenge for food and ingest the raw stomach contents of dead animals.
Both Dr Cruickshank and Dr Kilmartin agreed that instances of cancer appear to be becoming a more frequent diagnostic outcome, with Dr Cruickshank stating that at least part of this can be attributed to advancements in treatment.
“Animals are living longer, and the older an animal gets, the more likely it is to develop cancer,” he said.
Dr Kilmartin cited weight loss, reduced appetite, anorexia, persisting lameness, refractory coughing, exercise intolerance and skin growths as a few of the key signs and symptoms to look for which indicate that an animal is suffering the effects of a particular cancer.
Lifestyle choices aside, it is clear that the science is united on one front: that passive cigarette smoke does have harmful effects on your household pet. Your dog or cat, however, lacks the ability to politely ask you to move downwind. Keeping this in mind next time you smoke around your animal, and ensuring your invited guests do the same will result in a happy, healthy and thoroughly tobacco-free pet.
